on Anarchism

14 Sep 2010

There have been many great benefits I got from the Debian project,
but among the most important is my introduction to Anarchism, a radical
political theory that opposes all forms of official hierarchy
(capitalism, communism, religion, etc), arguing that such things tend to
result in oppression.

How I got access to that is via a package known as anarchism, a set
of documents formally known as An Anarchist FAQ. It's a very
comprehensive coverage of the theory, and going through it brought both
enlightenment and frustration, for it explained so many things that I
took for granted, while pointing out the causes. The theory is basically
presented as the best possible society humans could ever have.

As for me, I'm not sure if it's actually true, although I lean more
towards it than alternatives (and I haven't read anything extensive on
competing theories, but intuition/experience tells me that capitalism,
communism, and religion all suck tremendously). I need more study to be
more sure, especially because the objections to Anarchism are heavy.

To me it's a scarier concept to introduce yourself as an anarchist than
as an atheist or a homosexual, because the implications are greater. In
fact, they are so great, that the word anarchy itself has been
associated with chaos. That's an expected knee-jerk reaction you'll get
when you punt things like "I reject all forms of official authority,
including all governments!". But it would be nice if people who shudder
at the concept to spend time with that great document.

My attraction to the theory perhaps is due to my radically liberal
tendencies (EG, I don't see anything wrong with fucking my biological
mother, provided it's consensual, and there's no pregnancy). I don't
know where these tendencies originate, considering that I was a
religious nut back in my early teens, scared of the concept of hell and
similar forms of bullshit.